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The first time Officer Tenten received the call that there was a break-in at Forever & Always Jewellery store in downtown Konoha, she had done her job—took the owner's statement, checked video feeds, and eventually caught the thief. It helped that the burglar had been an amateur and had left multiple fingerprints throughout the store. Much to her surprise, though, was that the criminal wasn't the most interesting part of the investigation.
The owner had caught her eye from the beginning. He was a handsome man—all dark brown hair and pale, lavender eyes—who seemed amused at her questioning method despite the loss he had just suffered to his business. He was quiet. Not the shy kind, but the kind where he only spoke when he needed to, and not a minute sooner. Which left Tenten squirming under his penetrating gaze while she waited for his responses on more than one occasion.
The second time she received a call that there had been another break-in at the same store, she was annoyed, wondering if the owner just didn't know how to set the right sort of security needed. So, after taking his statement—again—and checking the video footage, she spent the next hour walking around his store with him and pointing out where he needed to improve his security.
He was pleasant, as he had been the first time around, and he insisted she call him by his first name when she referred to him as 'Mr. Hyuga'. She refused, and the next time she called him by his surname, a ghost of a smile touched his lips—the first one she had seen since meeting him—and Tenten had to stop the pitter-patter of her heart at the sight of it.
When she was called back to his store for a third time in just as many weeks, Tenten was beginning to wonder if he was working with the burglars. It was either that or the alarm system was broken. There were no signs of activity on the video feeds and no fingerprints were discovered at the scene of the crime, which led Tenten to believe that it very well could be an inside job. The man seemed unlikely to commit crimes—although Tenten decided it probably wasn't good to base that fact on the handful of times she had met him. But 'thievery' didn't seem to suit his image, despite him being one of the most confident—if not arrogant, despite his lack of words—man she had ever met. She was frustrated, and each time she voiced her frustration out loud, that small, barely-there smile would grace his lips.
When she received the call that once again Forever & Always Jewellery had been broken into and walked in to see the owner smirking at her from behind the counter, Tenten began to wonder if he may be doing it on purpose. But surely he knew that faking a crime was illegal, and that he could be prosecuted and fined for pulling such a stunt. Right?
Walking up to the counter, Officer Tenten bit back the sigh that desperately wanted to escape. It was late and she had better things to do than deal with this fiasco—handsome as the victim may be. "What happened this time, Mr Hyuga?" She asked, flipping her notebook open and retrieving the pen from behind her ear in readiness.
"Neji, please." He insisted. "It was the same as the last three times. I received a notification saying that there had been a break-in at my store, so I rushed here to check and then called you." He held up a bag that had been sitting on the bench, the name of a local Chinese restaurant scrawled across it. "Since it is late, I thought we could eat while we watch the video footage."
"We can't eat. This place is a crime scene." Really, she wondered if he made a profit at all, what with all the burglaries he was having lately—or supposedly having. Forget about the boy who cried wolf; this was the man who cried thief.
Tenten took a step away from the counter and turned to look at the store she had become so familiar with in the past month. Glass counters filled up most of the outer edges of the space, the jewellery encased within being of the finest quality. It was a high-end jewellery store—one that Tenten wouldn't be able to afford even if she worked most of her life. But the pieces were beautiful to look at, and if she weren't there to work, she would have taken the opportunity to admire them.
Neji spoke, bringing her attention back to him. "I do not think they made it into the store this time. The alarm probably went off when they tried to break through the front doors."
This time, Tenten did allow the sigh to escape her lips. She turned back to the store owner and inclined her head towards the room where the CCTV footage was held. "Come on, then. It's late and I want to go home."
They sat side by side in front of the computer screen, playing back the last few hours of camera footage that showed the front of the store in fast-forward. Neji retrieved a handful of dishes from the paper bag and set them on the desk, lining them up one by one. He opened the lids and procured two small bowls, handing one to Tenten.
She shook her head. "No, thank you." Refusing to eat Chinese food—her favourite kind of food—was more difficult than she would like to admit, but Tenten refused to let her guard down around this insufferably handsome man. The smell wafted into her nostrils and she fought against taking a deep whiff of the mouth-watering smell.
Neji was watching her inner fight and chuckled, the bowl still extended towards her. He gave it a little shake and said, "As you pointed out, it is late. You must be hungry. We might be here a while, so you may as well eat."
He was right, dammit. She took the bowl off him with a reluctant word of thanks before setting her sights on the array of food in front of her. Her favourite was there, a whole container full of sesame dumplings, and Tenten thought she just might start drooling with the anticipation of eating them.
"Help yourself." Neji offered her first dibs and stood up from his chair, returning a few minutes later with two glasses full of water. He placed one in front of Tenten, whose bowl was full to the brim of food, and started filling his own bowl. Tenten glanced at him from the corner of her eye, wondering what his play was. If he was doing all this just to see her, why didn't he just ask her out?
The video footage was boring—just as it had been the last two times she had watched it. Only the first burglary had she seen the thieves in action. The ones after that had disclosed nothing, and the longer she watched tonight's footage, the stronger the realization that Neji was doing this on purpose grew.
"So, Mr Hyuga," she started, sitting back in her seat to look at him while the footage ran in the background. "Would you say the thieves from tonight are the same as the previous two break-in attempts? You said you weren't here when they attempted to break into your store, but you got here quite quickly, especially giving your apartment is halfway across town."
It was an attempt to catch him off-guard, with the hopes that he would slip up and contradict his previous statements. He did not. "I cannot say for certainty, but I would assume so. Who else would attempt it so often?"
"You didn't answer how you seemed to have arrived here so quick."
He raised an amused eyebrow at her, that hint of a smirk touching his lips again. "If it were your store, would you not rush to make sure everything was alright?"
She couldn't argue with that. Even so, that didn't mean he wasn't suspicious. There were too many peculiarities to the break-ins—no fingerprints, no video footage of the thieves, not to mention his complete and utter calm demeanour despite the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of jewellery.
Neji indicated the food and said, "Eat. The food is going cold." Tenten heaved another sigh but did as she was told. She would be an idiot to refuse. The food was amazing, and she hadn't eaten since lunch.
Hours passed and, just as Tenten had expected, there were no signs of forced entry and no dangerous figures lurking in any of the CCTV footage they looked at. It was near midnight when they packed up and Tenten was more than ready to go home.
She stood up, rolling the wheelie chair back so she wasn't so close to Neji as she did so. "I think I have everything I need for now. If you come across anything new, please give me a call." She gave him her card with her mobile number on it—something she had been holding back from doing since day one—and sent him a goodbye nod before turning to leave the small room.
"Can I take you home? It is not proper to let a lady go home by herself so late at night." He had risen when she did and he stood in front of the desk, leaning slightly against it with his hands casually holding its edge.
"Thank you, but no. I'm a police officer; I'm sure I can get home safely. Besides, my car is here so I don't need a lift."
His hands gripped the edge of the desk a little tighter, drawing Tenten's eyes to the movement before they flickered back to his face. "Will you text me when you arrive home?"
Tenten raised an eyebrow at the dark-haired man, her lips pressed into a frown. "What are you doing, Mr Hyuga?"
He smiled innocently and shrugged. "I just want to make sure you get home safely. And please, I have told you to call me Neji."
"And I will have to politely decline both offers." She paused before giving him a small smile. "Thank you for the food, Mr Hyuga. I'll be in touch if we find any leads. But I warn you," she added, shooting him a pointed look. "If I find out these have been false alarms, you will be in trouble."
Tenten drove away from the jewellery store, her head a jumble of thoughts. If he was faking the robbery attempts—and that was a possibility that was becoming more and more likely in Tenten's eyes—she didn't know if she would be able to follow through with the punishment. Yes, it was an offence to report false crimes, but she couldn't say she completely disliked seeing him on an almost weekly basis. The only reason she stubbornly refused to call him Neji was because she wanted to try and remain professional. Tenten hadn't been on the force for an overly long time, and she didn't want to start having less-than-professional feelings for a potential victim. But each time she saw him, those less-than-professional feelings became more and more prominent within her.
She was just stepping into the bath to soak her tired muscles before bed when her phone chimed from the counter. She grabbed it, her eyebrows shooting up to her hairline in surprise. A text message from Neji, asking if she had arrived home safely, peered back at her, taunting her to reply. Tenten closed her eyes and breathed deeply, reminding herself it would be unprofessional to respond. No fraternising with the victim, she told herself. Placing the phone face down on the ground beside the tub, Tenten sank into the blissfully hot water and sighed, finally relaxed.
Less than ten minutes later, her phone chimed again. Tenten's eyes popped open and she frowned. Surely, he wouldn't message twice in one night, would he? Tenten heaved herself up into a sitting position and wiped her hands dry on her towel before picking up her phone. She stared dumbfounded at the message, her jaw going slack at the words printed across the screen.
If you do not reply, I will have to suspect that you did not get home and I will have to call your station so they can make sure you are okay.
The thought of her superiors calling her and bashing her door down while she bathed to make sure she was alive filled her mind, and Tenten glared at the phone, her short nails flying over the keys as she spat back a reply. We aren't close enough for me to need to tell you when I get home.
His reply was almost instantaneous, as if he had been waiting for her message. It is good to hear that you are unharmed. I take it that you are home, then?
Yes, not that it is any business of yours. And stop texting me. I gave you my number for emergencies only. Tenten huffed in annoyance, but a small smile tugged involuntarily at her lips. Her heart almost jumped when her phone chimed again.
Okay. Goodnight, Tenten. Sweet dreams.
It took all her willpower not to reply with you too.
.
.
.
Apparently, 'emergencies' in Neji's eyes consisted of many things that were not, in fact, emergencies. He texted her the next morning to ask if she had slept well. He texted her at lunch to ask how work was going. He texted her in the evening to ask if she had eaten dinner, and if she hadn't, did she want to eat with him? Tenten ignored them all, refusing to rise to the bait.
By the third day of text messages, Tenten was ready to strangle him. It was already so hard to keep her thoughts towards the beautiful man professional, and his constant interest was making it all the more difficult. If she caved now, she would be admitting defeat. And Tenten never admitted defeat.
If I told you that there is an emergency at the store, will you visit me?
Tenten almost laughed out loud at the text message. It was close to the end of her shift and Tenten was just preparing to go home when it came through, her heart doing a little summersault at the noise. She bit down on her lip, telling herself not to answer. Before she could listen to that rational voice in her head, though, she was keying a reply, her lips pulling into a smile.
You're the man who cried thief. One of these days you will have a real emergency and the police won't come to help.
Ah. Good evening, Tenten. It is good to hear from you. I was beginning to think you had changed your number.
Tenten swore she could see that stupid ghost-smile on Neji's lips through the text and she rolled her eyes. Unfortunately, no.
That is good to hear. May I ask you out to dinner?
No, you may not. Seriously, could this man not take a hint?
A shame. Next time, then.
Tenten stared at her phone, bewildered at his confidence. Next time? She shook her head with a laugh and shoved her phone into her pocket, refusing to reply.
.
.
.
Tenten would be lying if she said she was surprised to receive the call about a break-in at Forever & Always Jewellery. Somehow, she had been expecting it, though that didn't make it any less exasperating when she was asked to visit the store and get the owner's statement.
The streets were dark when she arrived, and Tenten walked into the store, her eyes narrowing in on the dark-haired, light-eyed man behind the counter almost immediately. He smiled at her as she walked towards him and she resisted the urge to return it.
"It doesn't look like anything happened here," she told him, making a show of taking in the store, with its still-intact glass cases keeping the array of jewellery safe.
"I am afraid it is a different sort of emergency, this time."
Tenten placed a hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow at him. "Did you just admit that you made a false report? Because I can take you down to the station for that."
He nodded as if that prospect didn't faze him at all. "I understand. But you gave me little choice when you rejected my offer for dinner."
Tenten wondered if Neji was extremely confident in his skills as a wooer or if he was just desperate. She thought she had rejected his advances enough, but it seemed as though he still had not gotten the hint. She sighed. "And you thought bringing me here on the pretence that there was a robbery would win me over?"
"Yes."
It was such a simple answer and it was said with such seriousness that Tenten couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled out. She grinned, shaking her head. "You are an absolute idiot."
"I do not hear a rejection." He quirked an eyebrow at her reaction, a small smile on his face.
Tenten shook her head, still smiling. "You know, if you did this to anyone else, they would take you downtown for all your nonsense."
Neji shook his head in disagreement. "I do not think so."
"Oh? And what makes you so sure?"
"Because I would not do this for anyone else."
Well, damn. Now Tenten was blushing; a slight dusting of pink having found its way onto her cheeks at his words. How could she say no to that confession? "Okay, Neji. You win. What would you like?"
The smile that broke onto his face was part triumphant smirk and part ecstatic grin. "How about dinner?"
Tenten had somehow known they would end up here. She realized, watching his light eyes dancing playfully across from her, that she was always going to say yes once she realized his intent. She had just enjoyed the chase a bit too much and she had wanted to see how far he would go to pursue her. Which, she knew now, was pretty far—if being threatened with prison didn't even deter him.
She beamed at him. "Dinner would be great."